We are soldiers
Fighting the enduring war
That ends with death
And starts with life.

We are soldiers
Who fight not with bullets
Nor blood
But by living.

We are soldiers
Where every breath drawn
Every smile seen and laughter heard
Is a battle won.

We are soldiers
When we enter the battlefield
Come out with wounds
But still alive.

We are soldiers
When we lose our battles
But learn to win
The ultimate war.

We are soldiers
Whose war is won
By the conquer of a day
And the mastery of a life.

We are soldiers
With unsung songs
For the war is common
And in all of us.

The paved road walks straight and cobbled
The crowd it holds - a choo-choo train
Neither forwards nor backwards reveal the way straight
But the road beside it swirls and twirls
Concordance of illusions where up equals down
The path is dirt, mud and stone
Yet there are some stubborn souls who trudge wearily on
The path in the middle does not yet exist
Unlit and untamed leading into the woods
But I know it is the one I’ll take
Through gnarls and thickets and thorns and beasts
To be cut and slashed and burned and slayed
Then behind me my willing flock
Follows me through the still unforged path
To the unknown plains of life’s uncertainties
Either to riches, to doom, or to doom within riches
And where the uncertain path is the uncertain home
Then traveller’s feet will create the way
And it shall flatten beneath to become dirt and stone
Then when the rain falls and lightning strikes
Mud will run like a river
And up will seem like down
Then the flock dwindles but the strong strive on
Because soon the path will become paved and straight
No nature to tame nor beasts to slay
The darkness through will be lit by lamps
Crackling through the night in their eternal fire
The docile road uncertain no longer
The crowd it holds - a choo-choo train
Then another one of us will learn to walk
The path of life and pick their own
On another path yet unwalked
Their journey begins once again
Leaving behind my paved and cobbled road.